Kyle Larson hangs on in wild Darlington Xfinity finish

The last time Kyle Larson raced in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Darlington Raceway, he was in a thrilling finish as last-lap contact with Sheldon Creed allowed Noah Gragson to sneak by for the win. Eight months later, his duel with John Hunter Nemechek also caused the two to tangle coming to the finish; this time, however, as Nemechek slid into the inside wall, Larson pulled away to score the win.

The two were the class of the field as they combined to lead 103 of 147 laps and split the first two stage wins. Nemechek, who comprised 57 of those led circuits, held first for much of the final segment including the final restart with seven laps to go.

Larson closed in on Nemechek on the last lap before getting side by side on the backstretch. Slight contact between the two entering turn three caused Larson to brush the wall. Exiting the final corner, Larson was sandwiched between Nemechek and the barrier, and a bump with the latter caused him to ricochet back into Nemechek which shot him into the inside retaining wall.

After re-firing his damaged car, Nemechek crossed the line in fifth.

“Just disappointed a little bit from the standpoint of how that ended up there,” said Nemechek. “Overall, we gave it a shot and still had a shot to win off of turn four. Fast car, top five to show for it when it probably should have been Victory Lane or second.”

For Larson, it is his fourteenth career Xfinity win and continues his streak of winning at least once in every season that he raced in the series save for his rookie season in 2013.

“We were picking off cars really fast and had some lane selections work out for me,” Larson commented. “We were just bouncing off each other a little bit. I don’t know what happened in three. It seemed like he tried to get behind me to shove me into the corner. It kind of hooked me right, and I hit the wall, and I was trying to stay away from him and get off of four.”

Among those who passed Nemechek after his crash was Austin Hill in fourth, rebounding after a bizarre crash in which he and Richard Childress Racing team-mate Creed spun at exactly the same time on lap 68. Creed was unable to make up the lost ground and finished twenty-fifth, continuing an Xfinity tenure plagued by misfortune.

Carson Hocevar finished sixth in Spire Motorsports‘ Xfinity début. Three spots behind him, Sam Hunt Racing enjoyed a strong day as both of their cars scored top tens with Kaz Grala in ninth and Corey Heim tenth.

Race results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Status
1	3	10	Kyle Larson*	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	147	Running
2	17	7	Justin Allgaier	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	147	Running
3	5	00	Cole Custer	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	147	Running
4	10	21	Austin Hill	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	147	Running
5	1	20	John Hunter Nemechek	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	147	Running
6	25	77	Carson Hocevar*	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	147	Running
7	13	8	Josh Berry	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	147	Running
8	4	1	Sam Mayer	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	147	Running
9	26	26	Kaz Grala	Sam Hunt Racing	Toyota	147	Running
10	24	24	Corey Heim*	Sam Hunt Racing	Toyota	147	Running
11	9	18	Sammy Smith	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	147	Running
12	15	27	Jeb Burton	Jordan Anderson Racing	Chevrolet	147	Running
13	23	48	Parker Kligerman	Big Machine Racing Team	Chevrolet	147	Running
14	19	51	Jeremy Clements	Jeremy Clements Racing	Chevrolet	147	Running
15	20	78	Anthony Alfredo	B.J. McLeod Motorsports	Chevrolet	147	Running
16	12	11	Daniel Hemric	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	147	Running
17	27	92	Josh Williams	DGM Racing	Chevrolet	147	Running
18	21	91	Ross Chastain*	DGM Racing	Chevrolet	147	Running
19	30	3	Ty Dillon*	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	147	Running
20	14	25	Brett Moffitt	AM Racing	Ford	147	Running
21	31	35	Patrick Emerling	Emerling-Gase Motorsports	Chevrolet	147	Running
22	28	7	Stefan Parsons	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	147	Running
23	35	6	Brennan Poole	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet	147	Running
24	8	31	Parker Retzlaff	Jordan Anderson Racing	Chevrolet	147	Running
25	7	2	Sheldon Creed	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	147	Running
26	33	45	Jeffrey Earnhardt	Alpha Prime Racing	Chevrolet	147	Running
27	16	39	Ryan Sieg	RSS Racing	Ford	146	Running
28	34	53	Matt Mills*	Emerling-Gase Motorsports	Ford	146	Running
29	36	08	Gray Gaulding	SS-Green Light Racing	Ford	146	Running
30	29	28	Kyle Sieg	RSS Racing	Ford	146	Running
31	22	44	Sage Karam	Alpha Prime Racing	Chevrolet	144	Running
32	37	38	Joe Graf Jr.	RSS Racing	Ford	140	Accident
33	32	43	Ryan Ellis	Alpha Prime Racing	Chevrolet	74	Accident
34	11	9	Brandon Jones	JR Motorsports	Chevrolet	68	Accident
35	2	19	Ryan Truex	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	68	Accident
36	6	16	Chandler Smith	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	67	Accident
37	38	02	Blaine Perkins	Our Motorsports	Chevrolet	35	Suspension
38	18	98	Riley Herbst	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	29	Accident
DNQ		4	Garrett Smithley	JD Motorsports	Chevrolet
DNQ		66	Chad Finchum	MBM Motorsports	Ford
DNQ		74	Dawson Cram	CHK Racing	Chevrolet

Italics – Competing for Rookie of the Year
* – Ineligible for points